As opera houses around Europe open their 2015/16 seasons, online streaming provider The Opera Platform is gearing up for yet more free-to-watch live relays of productions.

Launched in May 2015, The Opera Platform is a collaboration between 15 European opera houses — including The Royal Opera — and offers regular live relays of productions from around the continent.

Upcoming relays include Stefan Herheim’s production of Puccini’s La bohèmefrom Norwegian National Opera on 12 September, and Mariusz Treliński’s staging of Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face from La Monnaie in Brussels on 2 October. Available on-demand afterwards, these recordings will join others including Kasper Holten’s Royal Opera production of Szymanowski’s Król Roger, which was captured earlier this year. All on-demand operas are available worldwide and offer subtitles in six languages. They are available for six months following their initial broadcast.

Last night Stefan Herheim’s new Royal Opera production of Les Vêpres siciliennes was screened live across the world as part of our Live Cinema Season 2013/14. As part of the screening a series of backstage films were shown, featuring rehearsal footage and interviews with the cast and creative team. In case you missed them last night, or just want to find out more about Les Vêpres siciliennes, here they are again.

Members of the cast and creative team introduce Les Vêpres siciliennes

Conductor Antonio Pappano, director Stefan Herheim, Erwin Schrott, Michael Volle, Lianna Haroutounian and Bryan Hymel introduce the music and characters in the opera. Featuring exclusive rehearsal footage, the film also looks at Stefan's artistic vision, resetting the action from the 1280s to the Paris Opéra of the 1850s.

The ballet in Les Vêpres siciliennes

The creative team opted to incorporate dance into all five acts of Les Vêpres siciliennes by incorporating dance into all the acts, rather than including a centrepiece ballet in the third act as originally intended by Verdi.Stefan Herheim, choreographer André de Jong and dancer Cherese Binedell reveal how they incorporated ballet into the production.